Let’s cut away from Erap for a moment to read a little news-bite in Asiaweek about Imelda Marcos, First Lady of Erap’s former patron the late ex-president and despotic dictator Ferdinand Marcos…

And after 30 years, they’re still shuddering. Official papers just made public reveal that Imelda Marcos, below, widow of the late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, pushed the famed British reserve to the limit during what was supposed to be a private visit to London in 1970. Seething Foreign Office mandarins couldn’t complain that they weren’t warned, however. In a briefing by the British ambassador to Manila, the then first lady’s previous behavior abroad was described as “exigent, difficult, tactless and inconsiderate as it was possible to be.” Even her brother, Kokoy Romualdez, counseled that his sister was completely uncontrollable. But what really jarred were the tactics Imelda employed to be granted an audience with Queen Elizabeth, which diplomats said were tantamount to blackmail. “The Philippine effrontery is almost breathtaking,” one official fumed. “There are limits beyond which we cannot and should not go to meet Mrs. Marcos’ wishes.”

And today she still torments us with her existence.